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APCNews – January 21 2010 – Year XI Issue 114
The news service on ICTs for social justice and sustainable development
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The first APCNews of 2010 carries the first of a series of case studies on ICT initiatives that have been evaluated using GEM – APC’s gender evaluation methodology. The first case is from the Bumawa telecentre in a small town on the Ugandan banks of Lake Victoria, which was seldom visited by women. The GEM study uncovered that men and women were interested in different information – women in health, vocational training and food security – whereas men searched for information on politics, economics and business. Women users were much less likely to read English than the men and frequently frustrated in their search for relevant content. In which case they would immediately leave for home – and unfinished household chores- often never to return. In comparison, if they couldn’t find the information they were looking for, men still hung out at the telecentre playing games and getting familiar with the facilities. Following the GEM evaluation and training carried out by APC and local partner UgaBYTES, the Buwama telecentre has begun to offer equal opportunity training targeting women over thirty and catering content specifically to their interests.

— NEWS —

Telecentres in Uganda do not appeal to rural women
CALGARY (LC for APC) – In rural Uganda, telecentres that have been established to promote rural access to information and foster development are not getting the results they had hoped for. Using the APC WNSP’s Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) to understand why this is so, UgaBYTES, a Uganda-based NGO that works to promote access to ICTs in rural East Africa, has found that beyond the common obstacles to access like technical infrastructure, connection costs and computer literacy, women face numerous additional barriers if they want to use ICTs to improve their lives.
http://www.genderevaluation.net/mygem/news/telecentres_uganda_do_not_appeal_rural_women?1407269383=1

Network of networks for a free and open internet

MONTREAL (Chad Lubelsky for APC) – 2010 promises to be a significant year for the future of the internet with a number of potential changes on the horizon. It could be the last year of existence for the Internet Governance Forum and ICANN is confronting big changes as it moves out from under the control of the US government. In this time of flux, policy windows can open and close quickly. APC is building a worldwide network of civil society policy advocates from different spheres of policy work and with diverse campaigning experiences who all have a vested interest in ensuring that the internet is free and open.
http://www.apc.org/en/node/9788/

CALGARY (LC for APCNews) – Following the impact of Global Information Society Watch 2009 which put the spotlight on “access to knowledge for advancing democracy and human rights”, the University of Yale has invited GISWatch co-publisher APC to co-convene their fourth Access to Knowledge Conference. The conference organised by Yale’s information society project will unite scholars and human rights activists to look at designing laws, policies and technical architectures to promote “social progress across the globe”. Find out more about the conference. http://yaleisp.org/2009/11/a2k4/

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— WHAT’S HOT ON APC.ORG —

Cameroon
Illegal telcos fill gap
http://www.apc.org/en/node/9692/

APC ICT Policy Handbook (Second edition)
http://handbook.apc.org

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APCNews is produced by APC – a worldwide network supporting the use of internet and ICTs for social justice and sustainable development since 1990. Sister news services APCNoticias and APCNouvelles offer original coverage in Spanish and French.